Medium-spice jjimdak for three at Pungnyeon Kalguksu, Namwon

Hi everyone!

I'm traveling around Namwon with my family right now ^^ This was our last dinner of the trip. Since it was our final day, we were trying to figure out what to eat and landed on Pungnyeon Kalguksu, a well-known spot in Namwon. The name makes you think of kalguksu (knife-cut noodle soup) first, but what we actually ordered that day was jjimdak (braised spicy chicken)! We wanted a hearty last dinner in Namwon, and in the end we ate our way through jjimdak all the way to fried rice.

Parking and directions near Namwon city hall

The sign is big, so it was easy to find once we got close. Since it's near the city hall, there was plenty of street parking in the surrounding alleys. The exterior had the restaurant name Pungnyeon Kalguksu along with menu items like jjimdak and kalguksu written on it.

The vibe inside and the floor seating area

Once inside, the place was more spacious than I expected. There were regular tables, and a separate seated floor area toward the back.

That floor seating looked like a good option if you're visiting with a bigger group.

Jjimdak for ₩38,000 — how spicy is medium, really?

Looking at the menu, there was everything from assorted clam kalguksu to kongguksu (chilled soybean noodle soup), jjimdak, pajeon, and mandu. We went with the jjimdak at ₩38,000. You can choose your spice level, and we picked medium. I can't handle spicy food at all, so I was a little worried that even medium would be too much for me. But once I actually tried it, it wasn't spicy to my taste at all.

Basic banchan and the self-serve corner

While we waited, the basic banchan (side dishes) came out — kimchi and a few simple sides to go with the meal. Plus three roasted eggs on the house.

If you needed more banchan, there was a self-serve corner, which was convenient.

A jjimdak portion three people couldn't finish

And finally, the jjimdak arrived! It came in a huge pan, and the portion looked generous from the moment we saw it. Chicken, potatoes, cabbage, and glass noodles were all in there, with plenty of sauce still pooled around everything. The three of us ate together, and even for three people it was plenty.

Even though we'd ordered medium spice, I — someone who can't handle spicy food — didn't feel any heat at all eating it. I picked at the chicken piece by piece, then moved on to the potatoes and glass noodles, and I filled up faster than I expected. Still, I kept reaching for more jjimdak. The portion was so generous that the three of us couldn't finish it. We packed up the leftovers and brought them back to our lodging, where I'm eating them with beer right now, haha. Just like that, we'd also sorted out our beer snack for the last night of the Namwon trip.

Too full, but couldn't skip the fried rice

But we couldn't stop there. We were already pretty full, but there's no way we were skipping fried rice. In the end, we decided to fry just one bowl's worth of rice. Frying the rice in the leftover jjimdak sauce and topping it with dried seaweed flakes made exactly the kind of fried rice I love, just from the look of it.

We'd literally just said we were full, but apparently there was still room reserved for fried rice, haha. I was glad we only fried one bowl, but also thought — what if we hadn't ordered this at all? Rice fried in the leftover jjimdak sauce is apparently a dish you should never skip. You can pack the leftover jjimdak and eat it back at your lodging, but freshly fried rice really needs to be eaten on the spot. I was glad we stuck around for the fried rice even though we were already full.

What we missed, and business hours

Since the name suggests it's a kalguksu place, I wanted to try their hand-pulled noodle kalguksu too, but it was our last day so that didn't happen — unfortunately, kongguksu too ^^ Overall, one jjimdak was plenty for three people to share, and any missing banchan could be grabbed from the self-serve bar. We could even pack the leftovers to go, which is a nice option if you're planning a drink back at your lodging like we did.

Business hours were listed as lunch 11:00–14:30, dinner 17:00–21:00, with last order at 20:00. If you're planning to visit, it's worth checking the hours and last order time beforehand.

Pungnyeon Kalguksu was our pick for the last dinner of our Namwon trip. The portion was generous even for three people, and we packed the leftover jjimdak to enjoy with beer back at our lodging for round two. Even though we were full, we made sure to finish off with fried rice — really, what if we hadn't eaten it, haha. That's how we wrapped up a hearty last dinner in Namwon.

This Namwon trip actually came together by chance once we'd booked our lodging. Honestly, when I thought of Namwon before, I only knew Chunhyang and Gwanghallu. But traveling here in person, there turned out to be more charming and interesting spots than I expected. It was a short trip, but my impression of Namwon got a lot better.

Menu and prices at a glance

• Regular jjimdak ₩38,000
• Seafood jjimdak ₩58,000
• Assorted clam kalguksu ₩11,000
• Squid pajeon ₩14,000
• Pure kongguksu ₩10,000
• Mandu ₩5,000